USA: Partners in Chicago’s CREATE program held a groundbreaking ceremony for the 71st Street grade separation on July 28, advancing work to replace a busy road-rail crossing on the city’s South Side.

Chicago’s 71st Street grade separation advances with a new rail-over-road structure scheduled for completion in late 2027.
Photo: CREATE program Chicago

CSX tracks will pass above a lowered street

The July 28 groundbreaking ceremony focused on GS19, a road-rail separation beside the completed CSX Forest Hill Flyover. The project will replace the existing at-grade crossing with a structure carrying the CSX freight line above a lowered 71st Street.

This arrangement will remove direct conflicts between trains and people walking, cycling or driving through the crossing. The Western Avenue Corridor handles 30 Metra SouthWest Service trains and approximately 35 freight trains each day, while GS19 is scheduled for completion in late 2027.

The current CREATE project page lists the scheme in Phase III, or construction. It also identifies related neighborhood work within a quarter-mile of the railway, including sidewalk and curb repairs, street repaving, tree planting, bus-stop and pedestrian improvements, ADA curb ramps, drainage and lighting.

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Ceremony follows earlier corridor construction

The July ceremony is not the first construction milestone for the paired projects. A CREATE corridor fact sheet says linked construction on the Forest Hill Flyover and GS19 began in October 2022. The flyover was completed in November 2025, leaving the road-rail separation as the next linked element due for completion.

Together, the Forest Hill Flyover and 71st Street grade separation represent an estimated $380 million investment. Funding is anchored by a $132 million federal Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant awarded in 2018, alongside more than $260 million from state, local and private railroad sources.

GS19 forms part of a four-project corridor package

GS19 is one of four projects in the 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project, the most complex component of the wider CREATE program. The four schemes are being delivered together because of their proximity and shared logistical and environmental requirements.

CREATE is a public-private partnership linking the U.S. Department of Transportation, Illinois, Chicago, Cook County, Metra, Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads and freight railways. Its stated mission is to improve the efficiency of Chicago’s rail network; 36 of 70 planned projects have been completed.

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